Through the Roof by Justin Street

Transcription

1 Star Search 2019 Drama Troupe B - Minimum 4 actors - Ages 6-21 Sketch for 4 actors* Through the Roof by Justin Street While each character is given a name, none of the roles are gender-specific, and they re never spoken. *Roles could also be split into more characters, just pay attention to each characters personality and how they re reacting to the situation. You could also have someone play the hidden character, though that may take some air out of the reveal near the end. PREMISE: This is the story of the people who lowered their friend through the roof to see Jesus, so that they would be healed from the perspective of the rooftop. CHARACTERS: - The ringleader. Bombastic and headstrong, this whole thing was her idea. Thinking it through was not. - The strategist. Has lots of ideas, though not all of them practical. Very excited. - The phobic. Wants to help, just deathly afraid of heights. - Oblivious, but means well. There is also an unseen character who the cast will need to decide where they are located at the end. SETTING: A roof. Before the scene starts, have one of the characters come out and read the following: READER One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. (Luke 5:17, NIV) begins pacing back and forth, starts taking in the surroundings, peers over the side, and is staying as low and in the middle as possible. Ok. Cool. We re up here. That was obstacle number one. That was a nightmare. 1

2 That was a piece of cake, considering the height of the building was twice what I thought it was. Can we not talk about that, please? Twice as high, you should look at from here, man. This place is huge. Ugh. Look at all those people, though. They re all still crowding around the place. Only they look so small from here. I think I m going to be sick. Oh, not you too. Joins at the edge Stay focused. Don t forget why we re here. Ok. The crowd was keeping us out, but we solved that. We went over their heads, literally. I still think the catapult idea would ve worked, if you d given a little more time. Time is what we don t have. Who knows how long he s going to be in there - and we have to get inside. But we re not inside, we re very much outside - and we re up here! Waaaaaaay up here. Ugh. Correct. But in a way, we re closer to our goal. 2

3 If my calculations are correct, depending on the interior structure of the building - we may not actually physically be closer - technically speaking. Fine. But you know what s not between us them him? People. This, I can work with. I don t know how to work with people. You don t say. I don t think it will be too hard to get in. I have some ideas. As long as the windows don t have bars on them, I think we ll be in in no time. Good news! All the windows have bars on them. What? How is that good news? Isn t that what you wanted? No, it s the opposite. Were you even listening? It s all the same. I don t know that we would ve had enough momentum to break through the glass with enough force to avoid major injuries. This is insane. No chance we could get enough momentum to get through the bars and the glass? What? I suppose if we formed a human ladder up first, and then the top half swung down 90 degrees, then perhaps 3

4 crawls over closer to them Not happening! Look, I m all for doing what we re trying to do - but your plans so far I mean. Let s just say my confidence at this point is not through the roof. light bulb moment What did you just say? She said Not happening! then she said Look, I m all for Oh, that you heard? Looking down Oh no. No, no, no. It could work. Provided that the seams of the material are accessible. We may be able to peel back enough of the top layer, expose the structure of the roof enough to disassemble at least a section - enough to maybe get us through one at a time. Wanders over to the middle, mimes kicking his foot through the roof, and pulls his foot out. Or you could just do that. It s a simple mud roof, just like all the others. joins him and they start kicking in bits of roof. Wait! What if this all caves in? We don t even know whose house this is! It doesn t matter. They ll understand. It is very likely that they will. I mean, they are hosting him. He s kind of into forgiveness, if what I hear if correct. Plus, they might have leftover fish sandwiches, and I m hungry. 4

5 Fine. But what if we get in trouble? They each react to a noise to the side of where they are. goes over a little closer to where the noise came from. It s ok. We re almost there. He s just inside. We know he can heal you. finds resolve and stands up, goes over to where the others are kicking at the roof, smiles over to where the unseen friend is. It s going to be okay. We have a plan. Kinda.,,, and turn their backs to the audience and put their arms across their shoulders Ok. Kick on three. One. Two. Everyone freezes as the same READER comes out and reads: READER Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, Friend, your sins are forgiven. (Luke 5:18-20, NIV) Lights out. 5